Best Prof

The other day while visiting Jo at her art blog, I mentioned a painting that I did in college. It is actually a rather large pastel of stuffed animals. The professor had us students bring in several stuffed animals each. Then we piled them up to make a tower of stuffed toys. Using a view finder (mat board with a one inch square cut out) we found a view and painted it. In the class critique of the paintings, Prof Ashe said he thought our paintings were too soft. I argued that stuffed animals were soft, but the prof had us re-do the piece making our lines more crisp and defined. It was a great lesson. This was my painting.

I gave the painting to my cousin who was pregnant with her first child. That child is now 35 years old and posted a picture of the painting on FB not too long ago. I got the pic from his FB page.

It was a Drawing III class at MSU with Professor Richard Ashe. He was a bit of a perfectionist, but a reasonable man and a great teacher. For example, he taught us to mat and frame our work. He was very specific about what color mat board to buy, which was sold in the student union book store. The problem was that by the time class was out, the book store was closed. I was a commuter student driving an hour each way to class with several other ladies in a carpool. It was difficult for me to buy the mat board get it home and then get it matted before class the next few days. Most of the students could use the mat cutter in the art department, but I had to hustle off each day to meet my carpool ladies. I had a hand-held mat cutter and a T-square at home. The problem with such equipment was that it was easy to slip a bit and cut an ever-so-small cut in the corner of the mat. Professor Ashe would take one look at such an imperfection and say, "Redo this!"  At this time in my life, we were poor, Bo was two years old, I was commuting, working, and I was pregnant with Jesse. I didn't have time or money to buy lots of mat board. Art classes are so very time consuming and expensive!  Because the campus book store was closed when I got out of class, I often had to stop by a frame shop in WF that would sell me mat board that was nearly the same color as the board Prof Ashe expected us to buy, but not exactly the same. On the one hand, it taught me to be a better at framing, but on the other hand it was so frustrating when I messed up a mat.

One day in class, I had had to make-do with a mat that was not the right color and had a slight cut in the corner. When Prof Ashe said it would not do and to do another one, I lost it. I ranted about the book store being closed, cost, time, commuter problems, etc. Prof Ashe let me rant. Then he gave me time from class to go and get the mat board at the book store. He made other concessions for me, but still held me to a higher standard. Well, maybe he thought, "This lady is crazy and pregnant with hormones running amok!"

Anyway, I think back to that class and know that I learned more from Prof Ashe than any other art professors. I needed to be more of a perfectionist, because I was quite sloppy before that. I actually had another art professor (at Texas Tech) who said, "This painting is the only painting that followed the instructions. Too bad it is so sloppy." His words stuck with me, too. That class was a whole 'nuther story.

I could write a lot more on what I learned in his class, but  just know Prof Ashe's art lessons remain in my head to this day - in a good way.

After years of using my little hand-held mat cutter and a T-square, I bought myself a Logan mat cutter. Money, time, and age can be a good thing.